Bring a little elephant fun into your classroom with this Make an Elephant Tail craft! This simple activity gives children the opportunity to colour their own elephant and then create a tail using a pipe cleaner and a small piece of card or paper.
How It Works
Children:

1. Print the elephant on cardstock paper.
2. Colour their elephant.
3. Make a hole where the elephant’s tail should go.
4. Thread a pipe cleaner through the hole to create the tail.
5. Bend and curl the pipe cleaner to give the elephant a fun, movable tail!
   The pipe-cleaner tail adds a lovely hands-on element to the craft and gives children something they can bend, twist and shape themselves.
   Great for Developing Skills
   This activity encourages:
   • Fine-motor skills
   • Hand-eye coordination
   • Colouring skills
   • Following simple instructions
   • Threading and manipulating materials
   • Creativity and imaginative play
   It also provides a great opportunity to practice elephant and animal vocabulary during the activity.
   Perfect for an Elephant or Animal Unit
   Use this craft alongside lessons about elephants, zoo animals, wild animals or safari animals. Once finished, children can make their elephants “come to life” and use them for simple storytelling or classroom displays.
   You could even ask:
   “What colour is your elephant?”
   “Where is the elephant’s tail?”
   “Can you wiggle your elephant’s tail?”
   A simple printable that turns into a fun, tactile elephant craft!

Credits & Copyright
© 2026 Sonyja Murphy. All rights reserved.
This educational resource was created by Sonyja Murphy.
Illustrations in this resource were created with the assistance of AI (ChatGPT by OpenAI) and have been edited and arranged as part of this original educational work.